Polypropylene North America monthly market overview July 2019

Polypropylene market activity remained healthy in the traditional peak season, although the several sectors achieved lower than expected sales in June. There were signs of demand improvement in July, before the anticipated summer lull. Production levels were high, with plants ramping up after outages and supported by improved propylene availability. For feedstock costs July was a month of stabilisation as an uptick in crude values halted the decline in PGP pricing. Steady costs fed through to polypropylene prices, which after stabilising began to show upwards momentum. Margins were squeezed, with lower prices for overseas material bringing downwards pressure on export prices.